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Armed opposition groups within Iraq are also known to use child soldiers. In 1998, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was believed to have 3,000 child soldiers in its forces, more than 10 percent of which were girls. Reports indicate that the PKK has used children since 1994 and even developed a children’s battalion named Tabura Zaroken Sehit Agit. A child as young as seven was reported in the PKK’s ranks. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), another Iraqi opposition group is also believed to use children as soldiers. Reports have indicated children as young as 10 serving within the PUK’s ranks.

Armed opposition groups within Iraq are also known to use child soldiers. In 1998, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was believed to have 3,000 child soldiers in its forces, more than 10 percent of which were girls. Reports indicate that the PKK has used children since 1994 and even developed a children’s battalion named Tabura Zaroken Sehit Agit. A child as young as seven was reported in the PKK’s ranks. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), another Iraqi opposition group is also believed to use children as soldiers. Reports have indicated children as young as 10 serving within the PUK’s ranks. As the United States sends more troops to the region and plans for a possible ground invasion, occupation, or other kind of operation, the fact that Iraq has thousands of military trained children should not be taken lightly or ignored completely. U.S. military forces may come into contact with child soldiers in the course of military operations in Iraq, as the number of children in the Iraqi military and opposition groups will increase during times of active fighting. The U.S. military needs to provide training to its soldiers before deploying to Iraq to help troops prepare for the reality of facing children in combat. The first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan was reportedly due to the gunfire of a 14-year-old child. The U.S. military would be well served to address the likelihood of direct combat with children before troops are deployed to avoid the shock and horror of seeing armed children renders U.S. troops defenseless.

Child Soldiers

The camp director said that when the youths had been given drugs-most likely, amphetamines-while soldiering, they "would do just about anything that was ordered." Some, he added, were proud of having been effective killers.

Many of the boys, ranging from nine to 16 years of age, had killed people as they fought in a civil war that paused with a fragile cease-fire in 1995.

Australia Signs Protocol on Child Soldiers

Australia has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

Our signature demonstrates Australia's continuing commitment, not only to the promotion and protection of children's rights in this area, but also to the Convention's broader objectives.

The child soldiers of Sierra Leone

Abducted by Sierra Leonean rebels as a child, he was forced to fight alongside them in the bush.

Revolutionary United Front (RUF)

With guidance from United Nations, including UNICEF and the Office of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and with the assistance of War Child Holland and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN, NYPAW will use education and art - including writing, public speaking, poetry, music, painting, storytelling and theatre - to raise awareness to the plight of children living in conflict zones and provide them with the necessary support.

Although Yemen’s laws specified 18 as the minimum recruitment age, under-age recruitment to the armed forces reportedly remained common.

owever, a law adopted the following year states that although volunteers must be 18 years of age, a non-emancipated minor can be enrolled with the consent of his tutor.4 It is not clear how these two laws can be legally reconciled. Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation indicated that there is no minimum age for the participation in an armed conflict

Chadian public prosecutor, quoted in the report, denounced recruitment by the gendarmerie of children aged between 12 and 15 which were used at checkpoints to arrest the so-called ‘codos’ (members of armed opposition groups). He added that these children frequently denounced people who were not members of the opposition groups. The authorities have admitted this unlawful recruitment

Hidden recruitment Despite widespread accounts of child recruitment and the presence of children in armed groups, the subject remains taboo within rebel groups and the national army in Chad (ANT). Gen Béchir Ali Haggar, commander of the inter-army military schools group and representative of the Ministry of Defence working with humanitarian actors, told IRIN "officially" there are no longer children in the army. "When [rebel groups] integrated into the army [in 2007] they took many children and some [military] leaders tried to keep them. But the children were not paid by the army." But a senior army officer recognised that there "could be some children". And a soldier who recently worked in the east of the country told IRIN: "There are children, but not just in the army, the rebels have them [too]. This is a war, we need everyone".

Being determined to see an end to the use of children as soldiers, this Australian Conference:

In recent years, children have been actively engaged in fighting with armed opposition groups in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Turkey and Yemen.

Abductions of children by Iraqi armed groups related to the sectarian violence increased significantly, in addition to the number of children abducted for ransom. A survey conducted by several local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Baghdad indicated that at least 20,000 people had been abducted throughout the country in 2006, half of them women and children.6

Article 9 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution stated that “[t]he Iraqi Armed Forces and Security Services will be composed of the components of the Iraqi people with due consideration given to its balance and its similarity without discrimination or exclusion and shall be subject to the control of the civilian authority”, and that “[m]ilitary service shall be regulated by law”.

The government, through the Commission of Child Care, began to address the challenges confronting children in Iraq. The Commission established a committee, which recommended that the government sign the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.28